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Thursday, June 14, 2018

THE SLUMP GAME

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It's a good thing the Yankees lineup is stacked. It's deep and if these guys fired on all cylinders and were all hitting consistently this team would be even scarier. We are scary now, but other teams would fear coming into our house even more. This team is good winning team now, but have they been more lucky than we think?

It's easy not to dwell on the slumps when your team has a 43-20 record and filled with some exciting young talent, but it's becoming more noticeable. I heard ESPN say that our best defense was our offense because they keep us in games. Sure, our bullpen has been great especially lately but there are even more thrilling come from behind hits than saves.

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As bad as ESPN spins things sometimes we have to feel good about owning the best record in the majors entering Wednesday's game. Mother Nature hasn't made that any easier thanks to all of her rain outs. The Yankees have always thrived off of the home run ball, especially at home. The Yankees now have 107 long balls thanks to home runs from Greg Bird and Gleyber Torres last night. The Yankees have the most number of home runs hit per game in the majors and are on pace to break the single-season record of 264 set by the Mariners back in 1997.

That sounds good, so what's not to like?

I am hoping Didi Gregorius is heating up again. He dominated in April and then crashed and burned in May. Now in the middle of June it looks like he is turning the corner but is that because Aaron Boone gave him a few days off? It wasn't an instant payoff so hopefully whatever it was hopefully June continues to go in the right direction for him.

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I still have hopes for Greg Bird but it's hard to get excited when the guy is hitting .176 and supposed to be a middle of the order kind of guy. Even a temporary drop in the order doesn't change a lot. It's just hard not to miss Wonderboy Tyler Austin even more. Maybe last night's home run starts a hot streak for him.

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And you can't avoid Giancarlo Stanton when you talk about slumps or how about how awkward or uncomfortable the guy looks. He looks lost and is taking weird swings at breaking balls again. His batting average is a weak .240 and seriously, only 15 home runs when your home is Yankee stadium and you hit 59 last year? It makes no sense.

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And what about Gary Sanchez? The Yankees had an off day and then Boone benched him on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully he three day break will help the .190BA. At first Boone said he wasn't worried about his mindset at first. He made it sound like he was just "banged up" and ''the one thing he never loses is confidence'' but now ''he’s fine, he’s good to play'' Boone said here. ''Overall, he’s banged up and maybe that’s leaking in a little bit. … But I feel like where he’s at physically, he’s more than capable of raking like we’re used to seeing.''

Sanchez says he isn't worried. Boone isn't worried. Should the Yankees be worried?

Right now the overall depth of the Yankee offense is compensating for individual slumps, so far. There's still a lot of baseball left to play but can they continue to succeed like this? Do they really think this could be the winning formula for the postseason?

Slumps suck, but it's part of the game....and the Yankees are still finding ways to win.